


The Kingmaker

by walkawayfromemptygold



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Episode Fix-it, F/M, I Blame Tumblr, Lizzington - Freeform, written as I watched
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:13:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5613559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkawayfromemptygold/pseuds/walkawayfromemptygold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How I wanted things to go in the Kingmaker. Very slightly away from canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Kingmaker

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. If it sounds like it’s from the show, it is.

She tells him that the Kingmaker is dead, a little wary of his reaction.

“That’s why I told you about this case. Goodbye Lizzie.” He says, annoyed. It’s the only thing he wanted, just ten minutes out of this whole affair.

“Wait. Ressler shot him. The Kingmaker was strangling me. We were going to try and bring him in alive.” With Red, sometimes she feels like she has to explain herself. She sighs. He doesn’t speak for a moment.

“I’ll see you later, Red.” She says and hangs up. If he’s going to play the silent game, that’s fine. She has her fake, missing husband to be concerned about, the case and the text from Aram on her phone that says to call when she has the time. There is so much to worry about that she doesn’t. She can’t let herself think about that, she has to focus. One thing at a time.

She applies makeup to her neck in the bathroom before they’re about to leave.

* * *

 

There’s a huge swarm of reporters around the man they’re about to arrest. He’s speaking, probably something  pre-scripted when she decides to say something that stops the reporters for a split second. He’s under arrest, and all of those reporters hear it. This new knowledge makes the reporters even more interested, if that’s even possible.

He makes a noise of pain as Ressler handcuffs him. She hears him say something witty and take him away. Her phone buzzes with a call from Aram. She knows Ressler has it under control, Ressler’s been picking up her slack lately. So she answers to the call and listens to him speak then gears start turning.

As he speaks, things solidify in her mind. Reddington was in her father’s hospital room when he died. That settles it. It’s time to pay him a visit.

* * *

 

The makeup was a temporary fix, one she takes off after she parks. She throws the makeup wipe away in a trashcan on her way to where Reddington is. She hears him make a noise of disappointment and then he and Dembe come into view.

“Please excuse us.” Reddington says to Dembe, who nods and leaves. She’s sure he noticed the bruises on her neck.

He knows she doesn’t need his help on everything, but he can’t help but ask if she needs anything for those bruises.   
“Don’t distract me. Were you in my father’s hospital room when he died?” The last few words come out too softly and she resists the urge to clear her throat. She presses on.

“Did you kill him? Did you kill my father?” The words are harder now and she doesn’t really know how to feel other than anxious and tired. Her entire body is filled with the sensation of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Reddington is still for a moment, a little in disbelief, she thinks distantly. Then she hears the answer. He confirms it with a single word.

“I was right.” It’s barely over a whisper but he hears it.

“He wanted to tell me something before he died and you didn’t want me to know so you killed him. You killed my father.” She’s trying to keep it together, her voice shakes too much for her liking. She waits for his answer although she’s not sure she even wants it.

“It’s not as simple as you think.”  He says. She tells him to go to hell.

He doesn’t expect her to understand and he tells her so.

She’s furious, hard lines and hard eyes, despite the tears threatening to escape.

“How could I possibly understand you killing someone I love? I didn’t get a last moment with him and you were the one to take that from me. I don’t want to hear you try to justify that.” She tells him. She’s a second from stepping away, walking away. She needs to calm down, she tells herself.

He tells her to stop and listen to him. She does, despite her better judgement.

“I have been friends with Sam for a long time. He was dying, Lizzie, he had asked for them to disconnect him from those machines. He was told he had a few weeks. He just wanted it to be a few hours. The level of pain he was in affected his thinking. If he was in his right mind, he wouldn’t have ever told you any of it. It wasn’t his decision to make, to tell you.” Her eyes are a little softer, perhaps, he notes as he looks into them.

“We said our goodbyes and I put him out of his pain and misery.” He says and purses his lips for a moment.

A few tears escape but they don’t make it to her cheeks. Her entire face is soft, she isn’t so rigidly still as she opens her mouth.

“We are done.” She says, and her lip trembles.

“I’m done. This ends here and now.”  The words are a whisper that he hears. Her lips part, and a sigh escapes as she turns around. She looks back as she tells him he’s a monster, in that quiet whisper of a voice she’s reduced to. Then she walks out.

* * *

She walks into her still wrecked house, it’s not really a home anymore, she should really move, she can barely stand to look at the familiar rooms anymore. Half of the crap there is Tom’s or whatever his real name is.

There’s still sign of when they fought, she’s happy that the bruises from that blend in with the ones she gets at work and that no one ever comes over unannounced. She sets her things down and begins to categorize her problems, to figure out what she needs to deal with first.

There are bruises on her neck, her house is a wreck, she’s caught somewhere between starving and turned off by the idea of food, she’s tired beyond anything, a man she works with killed her father, but hey. At least the case is done with. There’s one good thing about the day, at least.

She wants to cry, but she’s too tired. Then her face contorts as she looks a few seconds longer at the mess, not unlike the one her life has become. The last two years might as well not have even existed. They were just a job for the person who she shared most of them with. She pulls the rings off her fingers and begins to sob.

* * *

 

It’s a while before she starts to have anything together, she doesn’t know what time it is and part of her doesn’t care. Her makeup looks okay, and she has to think of who she can talk to, someone who might understand even just a little fraction. Just a little bit of understanding is what she needs right now.

She used to be able to tell Reddington anything really, and Tom knew a few things, and those pillars are gone. She feels like she’s crushed in the utter amount of rubble. She finds herself at Ressler’s door and admits what he’s probably trying to figure out.

“I didn’t really know where else to go.” They’re close, but not that close, offers by each other have been turned down before. She knows that he won’t turn her down, he’s kind of a wreck too, but part of her still feels like this will be the final piece in her mess if he does. He doesn’t and she feels a rush of relief and gratitude towards him.

He moves himself as he moves the door, both move to let her in. He doesn’t look at the bruises on her neck like Reddington and Dembe did.

He just closes the door as she looks around. At least, she thinks as she looks around the unfamiliar space, she’s probably safe. At least, there’s that.

* * *

 

finis


End file.
